Ewell, by Rev. W. Clementson Ison Green, by Rev. R. P. Blakeney, Incumbent Kimberley, by Sheffield, by do. do. St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row, by Rev. 12 0 0 Hugh McNeile 40 0 4 Bate, Miss, Plymouth, Penny-a-week Subscriptions Hutchins, Miss, Ison Green Severn, Mrs. do. Miss Goodhew Cock, Miss, Teignmouth BRITISH REFORMATION SOCIETY. ANNUAL SERMON, Preached at Portman Chapel, Baker Street, on BY THE REV. J. C. RYLE, B.A. "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good."—1 Thess. v. 21. THERE were three great doctrines or principles which won the battle of the Protestant Reformation. These were first, the sufficiency and supremacy of Holy Scripture: secondly, the right of private judgment: and thirdly, justification by faith only, without the deeds of the law. These three principles were the keys of the whole controversy between the Reformers and the Church of Rome. Keep firm hold of them, my brethren, and your position is unassailable; no weapon that the Church of Rome can forge against you can prosper as long as you keep hold of these three. Give up one of them, and your cause is lost; like Samson, with his hair shorn, your strength is gone; or, like the Spartans at Thermopyla, when their flank was turned, and they were betrayed, you are completely surrounded and encompassed by enemies; and whenever you come to have an argument with a Roman Catholic, you will have to lay down your arms, and surrender at discretion. Remember, then, that the sufficiency of holy Scripture, the right of private judgment, and justification by faith only, are the three great principles to which you must always cling. Grasp firmly hold upon them, and never let them go. Now, brethren, one of these three great principles I take to be set forth in the verse which I have chosen for our text, I mean, the great principle of private judgment. I ask your attention this evening while I endeavour to set before you some truths connected with this subject-truths which are most important for the times in which we live. There appear to me to be two great truths brought before us in this verse, of both of which I propose to speak. First of all, you have the right, duty, and necessity of private judgment: "Prove all things;" and, secondly, you have the duty and necessity of keeping firm hold upon truth; "Hold fast," says the Apostle," that which is good." Let me say something to you about both clauses of the text. I. First, the right, duty, and necessity of private judgment. When I say the right of private judgment, I mean that every individual Christian has a right to judge for himself by the Word of God whether that which is put before him as religious truth is God's truth, or is not. When I say the duty of private judgment, I mean that God requires every Christian man to use the right of which I have just spoken; to compare man's words and man's writings with God's revelation, and to make sure that he is not deluded and taken in. And when I say the necessity of private judgment, I mean this that it is absolutely needful for every Christian who loves his soul, and would not be deceived, to exercise that right, and discharge that duty, to which I have referred, seeing that experience shows that the neglect of private judgment has always been the forerunner of immense evils in the Church of Christ. The Apostle Paul urges all these three points upon your notice when he uses those remarkable words, "Prove all things." I pray your particular attention to that expression; in every point of view it is a most weighty and instructive one. Here, you will remark, is the Apostle Paul writing to the Thessalonians-to a Church which he himself had founded. Here is an inspired Apostle writing to young inexperienced Christians-writing to the whole |